How BA’s new Inverness route can save you £118 APD per long-haul redemption

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• Waribai says:

  5 Nov5 November 05:38

  “Alternatively, you could arrive at Heathrow for 9.55am, fly to Inverness on an Avios redemption, fly back on the same plane to London and then fly on to New York at 6pm”

  40 minute turnaround? Surely not with checked luggage?

  • JoshBosh says:

    5 Nov5 November 05:56

    Check the luggage at heathrow for the NY leg before getting on the Inverness flight?
    The return leg would be safe, as you just need a scheduled arrival at LHR just after the cut off, then the Inverness flight would be the next day.

    • pauldb says:

      5 Nov5 November 09:22

      No need to book the return finishing in INV: it’s not like an ex-EU where the ticket cost is less because of the final ticketed destination, and no APD on the return leg to avoid.

    • JQ says:

      5 Nov5 November 09:29

      There’s no need to book the return LHR-INV.

  • Philip White says:

    5 Nov5 November 07:33

    I was about to make the same point. Assuming that your luggage wouldn’t be checked through and the gate will close 15 minutes before departure, it is impossible to collect luggage, get too baggage drop, drop baggage, get through security and get to the gate in 25 minutes!

    However even if you checked your luggage for long haul in at LHR, 25 minutes connection still seems tight even for a small airport like INV.

• RK says:

  5 Nov5 November 06:02

  “Domestic connections remain free on Avios redemptions.”

  I thought the changes a while back got rid of the free domestic connections?

  • RK says:

    5 Nov5 November 06:03

    Oh its still free on long haul?

  • Sandgrounder says:

    5 Nov5 November 06:04

    Long haul flights still enjoy free connections.

    • RK says:

      5 Nov5 November 06:13

      Actually this gets better the ore I think about it. For a while I have been cursing the fact that my Lloyds upgrade and BA Amex 241 vouchers have to be used from the UK and therefore incur UK APD. Now there is a way around this. The lloyds voucher can be used for 2 people one way, from Aberdeen you would save £240 using it this way over flying from LHR (or maybe £160 net after paying for positioning flight).

      • Sandgrounder says:

        5 Nov5 November 06:18

        Is ABZ tax free?

        • RK says:

          5 Nov5 November 06:20

          Oops Inverness…its early lol.

      • Anon says:

        5 Nov5 November 08:26

        God how I wish, ABZ should be tax free to help promote tourism jobs for Bonnie Aberdeenshire, the council should push for it given the crisis in the Oil Industry.

        Hey we might then see more direct flights to Europe from ABZ.

        • lady London says:

          5 Nov5 November 17:21

          Hmmm ABZ might be the last outpost where they’d still charge APD.

          Too much oil money there.

    • Anon says:

      5 Nov5 November 08:29

      Didn’t realise that it was still free connections for long haul, forgot it was just Europe flight BA pulled it for (stupid move btw)

• Alan says:

  5 Nov5 November 06:48

  “If you live in Scotland, of course, this is an excellent result which suddenly makes your Avios redemptions far cheaper.”

  Lol if think you may be mean ‘if you live near Inverness’, given that you’d be looking at an over 3h/160 mile trip one-way from Edinburgh to Inverness… 😉

  • Henry P says:

    5 Nov5 November 06:53

    I was about to say the same thing! It’s probably easier to get to Inverness from Heathrow than from Glasgow! I think Raffles Scottish geography may be a bit lacking!

    • Alan says:

      5 Nov5 November 06:56

      Haha what do you mean, you can now easily fly GLA-LHR-INV 😛

      • Worzel says:

        5 Nov5 November 07:25

        You’d have thought Rob would have known better as he’s from up that way-Sheffield area from memory 🙂 .

        • Erico1875 says:

          5 Nov5 November 07:49

          Even the train is 3 half hours from Glasgow or Edinburgh.
          I suppose if a family off 4 is going, we regularly used to travel to Manchester for cheap flights

        • Chris says:

          5 Nov5 November 08:04

          What, you mean the Midlands? 😉

        • Worzel says:

          5 Nov5 November 08:24

          That’s the place-just below the Highlands!! 🙂 .

    • Mike says:

      5 Nov5 November 08:50

      I was thinking the same lol. Glasgow – Inverness is a painful journey up the A9, average speed cameras too all the way from Stirling to Inverness. Brutal journey

      • CV3V says:

        5 Nov5 November 09:17

        Was about to make the same point, can you imagine getting off a long haul flight to then drive down the A9? Speed cameras, traffic, and years and years of roadworks whilst its upgraded. Train is a better option if in central belt. If in the north of Scotland, lucky people!

        • Scott says:

          5 Nov5 November 12:50

          The A9 isn’t that bad as long as long as you don’t get stuck behind a lorry or someone driving along at 30mph with everyone behind them refusing to overtake for 20 miles until they can all suddenly do 100mph on a stretch of dual carriageway 😉

          Same between Aberdeen and Inverness – always someone driving at half the speed limit and endless traffic coming the other way.

• Aaron says:

  5 Nov5 November 07:23

  Excellent tax avoidance opportunity!

• Anon says:

  5 Nov5 November 08:09

  “If you live in Scotland, of course, this is an excellent result which suddenly makes your Avios redemptions far cheaper.”

  Bit of a generalisation here Rob, Scotland is a big country.

  Even for a northern city, Aberdeen-Inverness can be a 3 hour drive.

  Not sure I’ll be doing it.

  But of course, if I change my mind, I will be sure go let you know… 😀

• Ben_mw says:

  5 Nov5 November 08:20

  …or start from Manchester (to Inv) on Flybe? Different ticket I know, but something I’ll be looking into.

• James67 says:

  5 Nov5 November 08:30

  Where it really works is if you have time for a short break in Inverness predeparture. Great little city, great area, use what you save on APD to enjoy a break in the highlands. One of the car hire firms (avis I think) is conveniently located at ‘Thistle’ hotel which is only 10 minutes from airport by bus with stop right outside the door. You can drive alongside Loch Ness, all around skye and back in 6 hours, skiing in Aviemore in winter, Fort William and a hike up Ben Nevis in summer? It has loads of potential.

  • Worzel says:

    5 Nov5 November 08:37

    Agree with you James-It has loads of potential.

  • Anon says:

    5 Nov5 November 08:38

    True, a Highland fling before a long haul trip! 😀

  • CV3V says:

    5 Nov5 November 09:18

    and i would also recommend the distillery tours and a visit to Chanonry point to watch the dolphins. 🙂

  • James says:

    5 Nov5 November 09:22

    Indeed it does have potential – but more than 6hours needed, James67! Inverness to Portree alone is 3hr30, not to mention delays when stuck behind tourist traffic on the A82 or A87. Make a weekend of it and eat at the Three Chimnies and stay over on Skye!

    Interesting with car hire; I noticed last week in the Eastgate shopping centre that Europcar now have a desk there and offer one way hires to the airport – never seen that before but looked like an interesting deal.

    • James67 says:

      5 Nov5 November 10:17

      Once I took my friend by bus from Inverness to Portree, it left at 9 and I thought it only took three hours but I guess you are right, a lttle longer. From there we took a local circle bus around the island before bussing back to Inverness. I think we got back before 8. MOre than 6h yes but that was public transport and an awsome day at that. Would do it again.

• KeepmeSilver says:

  5 Nov5 November 08:34

  isn’t it a bit of a high risk strategy to save £££ – what if the LHR – INV is delayed / cancelled?

  • ABax says:

    5 Nov5 November 09:22

    You could do a back-to-back: make sure the INV-LHR leg on your INV-LHR-XXX booking is the same plane that you take from LHR-INV. That way, if you’re delayed ‘outbound’ to INV, then your return flight to LHR will be delayed, at which point you’ll misconnect legitimately and BA will rebook you on the next flight to your destination.

  • CV3V says:

    5 Nov5 November 09:24

    An employee once explained to me that when they look at cancelling flights they go for the short routes with lots of flights on it. INV may not fit into that bracket, with more emphasis on keeping it flying than compared to a GLA / EDI flight where they can fit passengers onto lots of later flights.

  • Kipto says:

    5 Nov5 November 10:38

    Totally agree.

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